Women Striving Forward, 1910s–40s

Suffrage Parade Centennial: March 3, 2013. Women brought attention to voting rights by hiking from New York to
Washington in February and then holding a huge parade in DC on March 3,
1913, the day before President Woodrow Wilson's inauguration.

To commemorate International Women’s Day (March 8), here are 34 photos
that highlight the many arenas in which women have striven individually and
collectively not only for their own betterment, but for better conditions
and greater justice in the world at large. The photos caught our eye
because they show the resilience, determination, and humor that it takes to
survive and flourish, sometimes against great odds.

The pictures were suggested by our staff and members of the Library of
Congress Women’s History Discussion Group, where researchers and staff
gather monthly to discuss their studies and research strategies. They
proposed images from the two Flickr sets called “News in the 1910s” and
“1930s-40s in Color” and added the tag “IWD” to about 120 images. To see
the full array of photos, search IWD.

Many of the selected photos have been up in Flickr for more than a year,
and the notes, tags, and comments reflect an accumulation of ideas that may
have little to do with the role and status of women—illustrating once again
the many angles from which the photos can be appreciated.

“Resourceful Women,” provides an opportunity to view Web casts of speakers
at a 2003 symposium relating to women’s history research; speakers included
Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sandra Day O’Connor: www.loc.gov/rr/women/